Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Fifth Edition

What is a Project?

1. LO 1.2 Recognize the basic properties of projects, including their definition.

Although there are a number of general definitions of the term project, we must recognize at the outset that projects are distinct from other organizational processes. As a rule, a process refers to ongoing, day-to-day activities in which an organization engages while producing goods or services. Processes use existing systems, properties, and capabilities in a continuous, fairly repetitive ­manner.5 Projects, on the other hand, take place outside the normal, process-oriented world of the firm. ­Certainly, in some organizations, such as construction, day-to-day processes center on the creation and development of projects. Nevertheless, for the ...